Twins Minor League Report (5/14): Chattanooga Flying Solo

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. The baseball world helps to celebrate the weekend by powering their uniforms and bats in pink. Not only can players honor their mothers but they can also help raise money for breast cancer awareness as many of the items will be auctioned off for charity.

It was a muted Mother's Day in the Twins farm system as only two teams were scheduled to play. After a rain-out for Rochester, the Lookouts were the lone team to play. Who would make his mom proud? Read on to find out...

Image courtesy of Seth Stohs (Photo of Ryan Walker)

RED WINGS REPORTRochester --, Pawtucket -- (Postponed)Rain and wet grounds meant the Red Wings' game was postponed on Sunday. Rochester was looking to sweep the four-game series after being swept by Lehigh Valley earlier in the week.The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday, June 17 starting at 3:35 pm CST. Sunday marked the eighth time Rochester has been postponed this season.The Red Wings are currently tied with the Buffalo Bisons for second place in the International League North. Lehigh Valley sits atop the division and they are currently three games ahead of Rochester and Buffalo.

CHATTANOOGA CHATTERChattanooga 5, Birmingham 4Box ScoreChattanooga was getting no-hit into the sixth inning but their bats finally came alive over the course of the final frames. Lookouts' right hander Paul Clemens matched zeros with the Barons as he didn't allow a run in his five innings of work. However, Birmingham would strike first with a solo home run in the top of the sixth.

The Lookouts wasted little time answering back as Ryan Walker ended the no-hitter and the shutout with one swing of the bat. He led off the bottom of the sixth with a long ball to tie the game at 1-1. Chattanooga wasn't done as they strung together a walk and three straight singles to push the lead to 3-1.

The game continued to be back and forth with Birmingham scoring two in the top of the seventh to tie the game. Walker got things going again in the seventh. He and Nick Gordon singled to start the frame. Engelb Vielma bunted them over before LaMonte Wade connected for a clutch two-run single that turned out to be the the tie-breaking hit.

Raul Fernandez allowed four earned runs over 2.2 innings in relief of Clemens. It was still enough to "earn" his first victory of the year. John Curtiss was asked to get an out in the eighth before collecting the final three outs in the ninth. He didn't allow a run and struck out two on the way to his sixth save.

MIRACLE MATTERS Following an off-day on Sunday, the Miracle will start a six-game home stand as they look to dig out of a recent slump. Fort Myers has lost four of their last five contests and they have only won one series in the month of May. This week will go a long way to deciding if the Miracle can contend for a first half playoff spot. This up-coming home stand includes series versus the first place teams in the FSL South and North Divisions, Clearwater and Bradenton. Currently, the Miracle are in fourth place in the FSL South as they trail Bradenton by seven games.

KERNELS NUGGETS Cedar Rapids entered Sunday with a 20-15 record as they sit near the top of the MWL Western Division. They are percentage points behind Kane County for the overall top spot but they have played two more games than the Cougars. Over the last week, the Kernels went 4-3. Over the next three days they will play four games against Peoria to make-up for a rainout at the end of last month. The Chiefs are nine games under .500 and sit seven games back of the Kernels. Next weekend, Cedar Rapids has a big series at Wisconsin, the second-place team in the MWL Western Division.

Bad weather in upstate New York is certainly nothing unusual for spring. But the culprit a lot of the time ends up being snow. There have to be some places in the area that have set weekly rainfall totals in the past 2-3 weeks.